Washington D.C. Passes Healthy Tots Act
The Healthy Tots Act was recently passed in Washington D.C. This Act requires that child development centers and child care homes in the D.C. area that serve 50% or more low-income children participate in the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which pays for nutritious meals and snacks for children enrolled at eligible child care.
The Act provides $3.2 million in local funding for child care facilities participating in CACFP to:
- Adopt higher nutritional standards than the national standards, including serving local produce (25 cents per child per day in addition to the federal
reimbursement). - Serve three meals (two meals and a snack, no matter how many hours a child is in care; D.C. will be the first “state” to allocate local funding to pay for a
third meal). - Apply for grants for physical activity, gardens, nutrition education and Farm-to-Preschool programs.
Check out an infographic about the Act »
Read a summary of the Act »